Michael Mikey Brennan
Michael Mikey Brennan Michael John Brennan '(born 30th November, 1998), known professionally as '''Michael Mikey Brennan '(usually addressed as "Mikey") is an English musician, singer and songwriter known for composing own and cover compositions and publishing them to online streaming and downloading sites such as iTunes/Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, Google Play and Deezer. He is also known for his YouTube videos, and his covers of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', Ed Sheeran's 'Lego House', Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero', Keith Whitley's 'When You Say Nothing at All', Michael Jackson's 'Man in the Mirror' and 'You Are Not Alone' and Randy Newman's 'You've Got a Friend in Me'. '''Early Life Brennan was born in Leyton on 30th November, 1998 to parents Della Josephine Brennan and Barry Grogan. Brennan is also a twin brother to Kieran Joseph Brennan (born at 7:45am one minute after Brennan who was born at 7:44am). At the age of three, Brennan and his brother were fostered to new parents Mark Ian Care and Diane Mary Care (previously called, Diane Mary Scott before marriage) and for the remainder of his childhood Brennan grew up in Maidstone. He was raised as a Catholic and attended Holy Family Catholic Primary School but had difficulties with focusing in school due to his ADHD and dropped out of mainstream education in 2008 and was transferred to a special needs school, Bower Grove School where he continued studying from Year 5 to Year 11 and graduated in 2015 with a C grade in GCSE Music Performance and was enrolled onto a Music Performance course at MidKent College in September 2015. He passed Music Performance Level 1 in June 2016 with a BTEC pass grade allowing him to progress onto Music Performance Level 2 which he passed in July 2017 with a RSL Distinction grade allowing him to progress onto Music Performance Level 3. He started singing at the age of 3 but did not take singing seriously until he was 10. His first performance was in 2009 when he was 11, in which he performed Robbie Williams' 'Angels' in his school's Christmas production titled: "The Xmas Factor". He started singing lessons at the age of 11, and started playing guitar at the age of 12 and was taught how to sing and play by his music teachers, Mr. Croft and Mr. Starks. Career Brennan's career began with his first performance at Bower Grove School in his Christmas production The Xmas Factor (based on The X Factor) in 2009 when he was 11 years old and in Year 6. He sang 'Angels' by Robbie Williams as a tribute to the angels from the Christmas story. Discography ''' * Michael Mikey Brennan (2015) '''Influences The Jackson Family are the biggest influence on Brennan. He is especially fond of Michael Jackson who he describes as his "idol", "hero" and "biggest inspiration" and once spoke about Jackson in a YouTube vlog and said that he was reason why he performs stating that: "Without MJ, I wouldn't be performing this very day". He has also credited Jackson as "The greatest entertainer of all time". He has also showed his love and fondness for The King Of Pop by stating that: "There is no other artist closer to my heart than MJ". He has described 'Thriller' as his favourite album of all time, and saw Thriller Live at Marlowe Theatre in 2016 and commented on the musical and said: "Sadly, I never got the chance to see Michael Jackson live, but seeing Thriller Live was the second best thing". He also a big fan of Jackson's other albums 'Off The Wall', 'Bad', 'Dangerous' and 'Invincible', describing them all as "amazing" and he has also described 'Off The Wall' as: "The greatest album of all time". He is also a fan of the young Michael Jackson stuff, and has showed fondness over the song 'Music & Me' stating that: “I don’t have a favourite song, but if I had to choose one I think I’d have to say ’Music & Me’ by young Michael Jackson, it’s one of the closets songs to my heart, it so close that it is almost enough for me to classify it as my ‘favourite song’. It’s impossible for me to choose a favourite song, there are so many great songs and so many that I have formed a connection with, but this song has bonded with my heart. It is such a beautiful track, everything about it is beautiful, the music and the lyrics, everything! It’s a very relatable song, the reason I love it so much is because of my love of music, and I think others who also love music can relate to it as well”. Brennan also covered Jackson's songs 'Man in the Mirror' and 'You Are Not Alone' which he uploaded to his YouTube channel in 2014. He has also cited The Jackson 5 as influences and has stated that: "Listening to their music never fails to cheer me up". He also claims that as a child he listened to 'I Want You Back' over a hundred times. Janet Jackson has also been an influence on Brennan, he has described her as his "favourite female artist". He has also admitted that the lyric "all the memories come back to me in my mind" from his song 'Without You' was taken from Jackson's song 'Again'. Brennan has cited Elvis Presley as his second biggest influence, claiming that: "(He) is the reason I play guitar" and also claimed in an Instagram post that Presley was the reason he started playing guitar. He considers Presley and Jackson to be: "the greatest artists of all time". He became a fan of Presley at the age, when hearing The King's version of Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede Shoes' at school, shortly afterwards his Dad (noticing his son's interest in The King) gave him 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' on DVD. Brennan has listed Presley as his second biggest influence (Michael Jackson being his biggest). Brennan has also said that Presley's albums 'Elvis Presley' and 'Elvis' are two of the most treasured albums in his collection. The Beatles are a big influence on Brennan's style and songwriting, he has admitted that: "Whenever (he is) stuck songwriting (he) always turns to The Beatles for inspiration", he has described them as his "favourite band", and has described John Lennon as his "songwriting hero". In June 2016, Brennan and Mitchell Ripley covered 'Twist and Shout' and Brennan stated that their take on it was primarily inspired by the Beatles' version. Brennan has listed 'Please Please Me', 'With the Beatles' and 'Help!' as his Top 3 Beatles albums and has cited 'Here Comes The Sun' as his favourite Beatles song. He has shown his fondness of all the members of the band and has listed John as "the best songwriter", George as "the best guitarist", Paul as "the best singer" and Ringo as "the coolest". Brennan is a big Paul McCartney fan. When he was a child, every year when Christmas came around he spent hours listening to and singing a long to 'Wonderful Christmastime' which he has listed as his "favourite Christmas song". He has also cited The Rolling Stones as an influence to his style and songwriting and is a big fan of their debut self-titled album and has described Mick Jagger as: "the greatest front man ever!" and has also cited Jagger as a vocal and performance influence. He has also said that he has a lot of respect for Jagger and Keith Richards as Kent musicians, stating that: "Both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are pretty much the two most famous people to ever come out of Kent". He is also a fan of Oasis, and has said that they too have impacted his style and songwriting and has also said that Liam Gallagher has been a massive influence on his voice. He has also cited Queen as an influence and is heavily influenced by Freddie Mercury who he has cited as a vocal influence and has listed him as one of his favourite singers and his favourite front man. On 5th September, 2016 (Mercury's birthday), Brennan tweeted saying: "Happy birthday, Freddie Mercury one of my biggest influences, I wish I had an incredible voice like yours". Brennan has described Mercury as "one of the greatest voices of all time!" and has also stated that: "Freddie was one of the best voices of this generation, and if not, the best!" He has also listed Queen as one of his favourite bands, stating that: "There was a lot of Queen in my school, we use to listen to their songs in class and sing them in assemblies, songs like 'Don't Stop Me Now', 'We Are The Champions' and our all time favourite, 'We Will Rock You', we were obsessed with that song!" He is also a fan of other rock bands similar to that of the Beatles' style, like The Kinks, The Smiths, Fleetwood Mac, The Monkees and The Beach Boys. In November 2014, Brennan covered 'God Only Knows' with the other fellow pupils and members of staff of Bower Grove School as a dedication to Children In Need. Punk rock band Green Day are a big influence on Brennan, he has stated that they are one of his "favourite bands ever!" He is especially fond of Billie Joe Armstrong who he has cited as a vocal influence, and has also described Armstrong as one of his "favourite singers". He has listed 'Nimrod' as his favourite Green Day album, stating in a tweet that: "I love 'Dookie' and 'American Idiot' but my favourite Green Day album has to be 'Nimrod' a true masterpiece!". Brennan has also said that 'Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)' is one of his "favourite songs to play on guitar". He has played the song live at his gigs on many occasions and some of those performances are on YouTube. He has claimed that his first introduction into Green Day was: "Because of 'American Idiot'. I'm pretty sure most people my age discovered them through that song as well. Then after that I discovered the album, 'American Idiot' and absolutely loved it! Then I discovered '21st Century Breakdown' the album after 'American Idiot'. Then I discovered that they had six albums before 'American Idiot' and listened to all them and loved every single one!" He is also a fan of pop punk bands like Blink-182, Simple Plan and Sum 41. He has cited 'Enema of the State' as his favourite pop punk album. Brennan claims that his first introduction into pop punk was through Simple Plan, stating that: "They were a very popular band during my childhood era of the early 2000s". As a child, he was a big fan of Simple Plan: "Their song 'Grow Up' was one of the my favourite songs as a child, I use to sing it all time. Oh yeah, they also did the theme song to the show 'What's New, Scooby Doo?', me and my brother use to watch that show a lot when we were kids, we loved it and we also loved the theme song and use to sing it together". Brennan is a big fan of Simple Plan's albums 'No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls' and 'Still Not Getting Any...". Brennan has listed pop punk as one of his personal favourite genres, stating that: "As a youngster, pop punk songs are relatable". He is also a fan of more "classic" punk bands such as Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks and the Ramones. Brennan spoke about the Sex Pistols in a tweet and said: "The Sex Pistols were s**t musicians and couldn't play to save their lives. However, they were still a f**king brilliant band regardless", he is also a big fan of the album 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' and has listed it as his favourite punk album. As a folk musician, Bob Dylan has been a massive influence on Brennan's style, genre, songwriting, lyrics, poetry and guitar playing. Brennan has personally stated that: "You can't be a folk musician without being influenced by Bob Dylan". Brennan has admitted that he looks to Dylan for inspiration, stating that: "Whenever I struggle to write a song I always think to myself.... what would Bob Dylan do?" He has also admitted that the harmonicas in his song 'Home' were inspired by the harmonica in 'Blowin' In The Wind'. Brennan has also performed 'Blowin' In The Wind' at a lot of his gigs. Brennan also cites Elton John as an influence to his singing and songwriting and has described him as "one of the greatest songwriters of all time". He claims that he discovered John as a child through a Bob the Builder Christmas film titled: "Bob the Builder: A Christmas To Remember" which John guest voiced in. The film also features John's song 'Crocodile Rock', which Brennan claims was the first Elton John song he ever heard (because of the film). As a child he was also a fan of The Lion King soundtrack stating that: "The Lion King soundtrack has to be the best soundtrack I've ever heard". In 2015, Brennan and his parents saw Elton John and his band live on the All Hits Tour at Kent Showground which was the first ever concert Brennan went to. He has also cited Phil Collins as a vocal and songwriting influence and has described him as a "musical genius". As a child Brennan was a big fan of Collins' Disney soundtracks, the Tarzan soundtrack and the Brother Bear soundtrack. Brennan has also admitted that Collins is his inspiration to writing love songs, stating that: "The love songs he writes are absolutely amazing and heartwarming, emotional and romantic. When it comes to writing love songs he is the expert, all of his work is brilliant. I could never write a love song that could compare to 'You'll Be In My Heart' or any love song by him for that matter". Brennan is a big fan of heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeath, Pantera, Slipknot, Twisted Sister and rap metal band, Rage Against The Machine. Brennan has listed Sabbath as "the greatest metal band in the world", but he has credited Maiden as his favourite heavy metal band.